When it’s difficult to forgive
Forgiving those who have hurt us is hard and sometimes beyond what we can do without divine intervention. The following prayer by Francis MacNutt, taken from his book The Practice of Healing Prayer, can help release your heart so you can freely forgive and live with a generous heart.
Lord Jesus Christ, Send your Holy Spirit into my life and fill me with your love for people. Especially in regard to________ (name) who I am having a hard time forgiving, help me see him or her as you see him. Take out of my heart the desire to get even. Show me some good quality in him that I haven’t seen before. I pray that you bless this person in abundance. Free me from any judgmentalism on my part and help me love the person as you do. If he needs to change, help him do that, but help me change to, and show me any areas where I may be blind. Pour out your love into my heart. Forgive me my sins as I forgive those who have hurt me.
Today, give me the power through your spirit for my hidden self to grow strong, so that Christ may live in my heart through faith. And then, planted in love and built on love, I will have strength to grasp the breath and the length and the height and the depth until, knowing the love of Christ, I am filled with the utter fullness God (Ephesians 3:16-19), with Your gentleness.
Smitten With Goodness 